This accessibility statement applies to the Graduate Outcomes website:
This website is run by HESA. We want as many people as possible to be able to use our website. For example, that means you should be able to:
- Change colours, contrast levels and fonts.
- Zoom in up to 300% without the text spilling off the screen.
- Navigate most of the website using just a keyboard.
- Navigate most of the website using speech recognition software.
- Listen to most of the website using a screen reader (including the most recent versions of JAWS, NVDA, VoiceOver and TalkBack).
AbilityNet has advice on making your device easier to use if you have a disability.
How accessible this website is
Overall, our website is accessible in parts and most customers should be able to use the site. We are aware, however, of some issues that may affect the accessibility for some of our users:
- Accordions are not keyboard operable or announced correctly by a screen reader.
- The colour contrast is insufficient in places.
- Colour is used as the only way of distinguishing links.
- Some functional images are missing descriptive alt text.
- There is no skip to content bypass link.
Feedback and contact information
If you need information on this website in a different format like accessible PDF, large print, easy read, audio recording or braille:
- email [email protected]
- call +44 (0)1242 388 513 [option 6]
We’ll consider your request and get back to you in 15 days.
Reporting accessibility problems with this website
We’re always looking to improve the accessibility of this website. If you find any problems not listed on this page or think we’re not meeting accessibility requirements, contact us.
Enforcement procedure
The Equality and Human Rights Commission (EHRC) is responsible for enforcing the Public Sector Bodies (Websites and Mobile Applications) (No. 2) Accessibility Regulations 2018 (the ‘accessibility regulations’). If you’re not happy with how we respond to your complaint, contact the Equality Advisory and Support Service (EASS).
Technical information about this website’s accessibility
HESA is committed to making the Graduate Outcomes website accessible, in accordance with the Public Sector Bodies (Websites and Mobile Applications) (No. 2) Accessibility Regulations 2018.
Compliance status
This website is partially compliant with the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines version 2.1 AA standard, due to ‘the non-compliances and exemptions’ listed below.
Non-accessible content
The content listed below is non-accessible for the following reasons. We are currently reviewing all these instances of non-compliance and developing a roadmap to resolve these issues. This roadmap will be published by August 2021, which will provide more detail about when these issues will be resolved.
Non-compliance with the accessibility regulations
Page design
Functional and informative images are missing descriptive alt text so screen reader users may be unable to discern the purpose of these images or the function of a link when an image is used as an interactive element. This fails WCAG success criteria 1.1.1 (Non-text Content).
Some links are only distinguished by a change in colour, which may be imperceivable to people with visual impairment or colour blindness. This fails WCAG success criterion 1.4.1 (Use of Colour).
Colour contrast is insufficient in places making it hard for some people to read content on our website. This fails WCAG success criterion 1.4.3 (Contrast (Minimum)).
Some images contain text, the presentation of which cannot be changed to suit the needs of our users. This may make it difficult for some users to discern the text within these images. This fails WCAG success criteria 1.4.5 (Images of Text).
Page structure
Heading elements are not always used correctly, which can make it difficult for some users to discern the structure of the webpage. This fails WCAG success criterion 1.3.1 (Info and relationships).
Our website is missing a ‘main’ ARIA page landmarks, which can make it difficult for some users to discern the structure of the webpage. This fails WCAG success criterion 1.3.1 (Info and relationships).
Accordions are not implemented correctly so they are not keyboard operable and are not announced correctly by a screen reader. This means both sighted, keyboard users and blind, screen reader users will have difficulty accessing the information contained within the accordions. This fails WCAG success criteria 2.1.1 (Keyboard) and 4.1.2 (Name, Role, Value).
Navigation, links and buttons
There is currently no ability to bypass repeated blocks of navigation with a ‘skip to content’ link. This fails WCAG success criterion 2.4.1 (Bypass blocks).
The cookie policy is currently last in the focus order requiring users to tab through all content on the page before they can dismiss it. This fails WCAG 2.1 success criterion 2.4.3 (Focus Order).
In Mozilla Firefox, the focus indicator is very faint and may be imperceivable to some users. This makes it hard for keyboard users to identify which part of the site is active and fails WCAG 2.1 success criterion 2.4.7 (focus visible).
On mobile, the hamburger menu does not have a programmatic label so is announced in a meaningless way by a screen reader. As a result, blind users may not understand how to interact with this page element, which fails WCAG success criterion 4.1.2 (Name, Role, Value).
PDFs
Some of our PDFs do not comply with WCAG 2.1 to Level A and AA which may make them difficult for some of our users to access. For example:
- They currently do not use the correct heading structure, which makes it difficult for screen reader users to navigate the document. This fails WCAG success criterion 1.3.1 (Info & Relationships).
- Some PDFs are missing document titles, which can make it difficult for screen reader users to quickly discern the contents of the document. This fails WCAG success criterion 2.4.2 (Headings and labels).
- The colour contrast of links within the PDFs is insufficient so partially sighted or colour blind users may have trouble reading the link. This fails WCAG success criterion 1.4.3 (Contrast (Minimum)).
Parsing
When the homepage is run through the W3C HTML validator a number of errors and warnings are flagged with the html that may have an impact on how assistive technology interacts with the website. This fails WCAG success criterion 4.1.1 (Parsing).
Content that’s not within the scope of the accessibility regulations
PDFs and other documents
The accessibility regulations do not require us to fix PDFs or other documents published before 23 September 2018 if they’re not essential to providing our services.
Any new PDFs or Word documents we publish will meet accessibility standards.
Videos
The accessibility regulations do not require us to add audio description to videos published before 23 September 2020.
Any new videos will be developed to meet accessibility standards.
Preparation of this accessibility statement
This statement was prepared on 24 June 2021. It was last reviewed on 14 June 2021.
This website was last tested on 5 May 2021. This website was tested for compliance with the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines V2.1 level A and level AA, and the test was carried out by Web Usability Partnership Ltd.
We used the Website Accessibility Conformance Evaluation Methodology (WCAG-EM) approach to deciding on a sample of pages to test.